Tuberculosis News and Research

Latest Tuberculosis News and Research

ACTEMRA reduces signs, symptoms in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Genentech, Inc., a member of the Roche Group today announced updated data from a Phase III study (ROSE) that showed rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients receiving ACTEMRA (tocilizumab) experienced a rapid, measured response as early as one week after beginning ACTEMRA, and improvement in disease activity within four weeks.

8 Nov 2010

Tuberculosis on the rise in the UK

According to health authorities, tuberculosis (TB) – a severe lung infection that has killed millions in the past, is resurfacing again in the UK. Last year the number of cases reached more than 9,000, the highest number for nearly 30 years. The numbers were revealed by the Health Protection Agency in its annual report on tuberculosis this Thursday.

5 Nov 2010

Antigenics awarded $424,720 grant under QTDP program

Antigenics Inc. today announced that it has been awarded $424,720 in grants under the IRS' Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project (QTDP) program. The grants were awarded in recognition of our two qualifying programs: AG-707, a phase 1 therapeutic vaccine for the treatment of genital herpes and QS-21 Stimulon® adjuvant.

4 Nov 2010

Afinitor tablets decrease size of SEGA associated with tuberous sclerosis

The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) today published a study that found patients taking Afinitor (everolimus) tablets experienced a decrease in the size of their subependymal giant cell astrocytoma (SEGA), a benign brain tumor associated with tuberous sclerosis (TS).

4 Nov 2010

Cempra to present information on solithromycin antimalarial agent at Atlanta Annual Meeting

Cempra Pharmaceuticals today announced abstracts to be presented on its novel fluoroketolide antibiotic, solithromycin (CEM-101), at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 59th Annual Meeting, November 3 to 7 in Atlanta. The abstracts will present new information on solithromycin's antimalarial activity. Additional data will demonstrate activity against Mycobacterium leprae.

4 Nov 2010

Immune Network to complete patient enrollment in Phase 2b imm01 trial for tuberculosis

Immune Network Ltd. a company in the business of discovery and development of immune-based therapies, today announced that patient enrollment will be completed next week for the company's future partner Immunitor's Phase 2b imm01 trial of V5 immunotherapy in 120 patients with tuberculosis.

3 Nov 2010

Novel technology using quantum dots increases drug uptake in lung injury

Researchers at the University at Buffalo have developed a novel technology using quantum dots that is expected to have major implications for research and treatment of tuberculosis, as well as other inflammatory lung diseases.

2 Nov 2010

Recent releases in Global Health

Global Fund Will Make 'Every Possible Effort' To Raise Additional Resources: Although pledges to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria at its recent replenishment meeting did not meet "the lowest estimate of demand," the Fund "will make every possible effort to raise the additional resources that we expect countries to request in the years ahead" through new donor recruitment and "innovative financing approaches," writes Executive Director Michael Kazatchkine in a Lancet comment

30 Oct 2010

China CDC signs collaborative agreement with Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center today formalized an ongoing relationship by signing a collaboration agreement. It marks the first such agreement between the China CDC and a U.S. cancer research center.

29 Oct 2010

Systemic amyloidosis patient to receive triple organ transplant

In 2005, then 40-year-old Walt McGuire was playing hockey twice a week, working full-time and chasing his young daughter. Then one day, he noticed after one trip up the stairs to catch her, he couldn't catch his breath. A few days later his legs were swollen. After numerous trips to different doctors, McGuire finally was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder called amyloidosis.

28 Oct 2010

Cholera outbreak in Haiti shows 'slight slowing,' but experts say interventions should continue

Nearly 300 people have died from cholera and 3,612 have been diagnosed with the disease in Haiti's week-old epidemic, Reuters reports, citing numbers from Haitian health authorities.

28 Oct 2010

Researchers find new antibiotic strategies for hibernating bugs

New strategies to apply antibiotics more effectively to hibernating bugs have been developed by researchers at the University of Hertfordshire.

26 Oct 2010

Panel examines global food security ahead of LA Francophonie summit; Global Fund, UNAIDS call for greater cooperation among French-speaking countries

World Trade Organization Director-General Pascal Lamy highlighted concerns about the global food situation on Friday during a roundtable discussion on the sidelines of the International Organisation of La Francophonie summit, Agence France-Presse reports.

26 Oct 2010

Immune Network enters letter of intent to acquire Immunitor oral vaccine technology

Immune Network Ltd. advises that a clinical trial of V5 Immunitor oral vaccine was published earlier this month demonstrating an unexpected powerful effect against tuberculosis, including multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and tuberculosis that is complicated by co-infection with HIV and hepatitis C (HCV).

25 Oct 2010

Non communicable diseases will cost India USD237 billion during 2006-15

Health experts participating at a roundtable organised by India Health Progress(IHP) on economic and social impact of non-communicable diseases in India are of the opinion that a concerted effort is required to address the growing burden.

25 Oct 2010

LSUHSC receives NIH grant for research on cancer and infectious diseases

LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans has been awarded $12 million over five years by the National Institutes of Health to conduct research on diseases like prostate and stomach cancers, lymphoma and leukemia, dengue fever, tuberculosis, and herpes infections, as well as to support the development of academic research scientists.

21 Oct 2010

Also in Global Health News: Foreign aid in Ethiopia; Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation; Health in Myanmar; Poverty in Zambia; Rwanda's progress on MDGs; Men involved in PMTCT of HIV

Ethiopia's government has been restricting access to food and other types of foreign aid among opposition supporters, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report on Tuesday, Reuters reports (Malone, 10/19). The report is based on more than 200 interviews, conducted over a six-month period in 2009, of people in 53 villages across three regions of the country, according to an HRW press release (10/19).

21 Oct 2010

UCB presents P3, P4 clinical trial data for Crohn's disease at ACG Scientific Meeting

Findings from the PRECiSE 3 (P3) open label extension study for Cimzia, demonstrating the longest continuously running maintenance trial for an anti-TNF in Crohn's disease, will be exhibited at the 2010 Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG), taking place in San Antonio from October 15 – 20. Additionally, long-term efficacy data from the PRECiSE 4 (P4) clinical trial also will be presented at the meeting.

19 Oct 2010

Sequella to develop SQ109 further with EDCTP, LMU, and TB experts in PanACEA

Sequella, Inc., a clinical-stage company focused on commercializing novel drugs for treatment of life-threatening infectious diseases, announced it has signed an agreement with the Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) of Munich to coordinate a European Union grant for Phase 2 clinical trials of SQ109 in adult pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) in seven sites in Africa.

18 Oct 2010

Researchers to identify protein-recycling mechanism of TB bacteria

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University have discovered a key difference in the way human cells and Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria, which cause TB, deliver unwanted proteins marked with a "kiss of death" sequence to their respective cellular recycling factories.

18 Oct 2010